Alan Garcia Alvarez is playing what might come to be regarded as the Deck of the tournament here at the WCQ: a hybrid deck in the style of oldschool “Monster Mash” strategies, packing 39 monsters and just 5 spell cards. Kaijus, Speedroids, Burning Abyss, Gallis the Star Beast… the Deck’s packed with surprises, and now we’ll get to see it in action.

But his opponent is the three-time YCS winner Angel Zayren Flores Covarrubias, one of the most successful career Duelists in the history of the game! We saw Flores take a decisive win in our Top 64 Feature Match, where he handily defeated Mario Andres Enriquez Garcia in a very quick 2-1 victory. Flores is playing Demise Kozmos, and this match-up’s going to pit Flores’ incredible wealth of experience against Alvarez’s off-the-wall innovation. Will Alvarez catch the Champ off guard? Or will Flores use his experience and years of insight to adapt on the fly.

Four more wins are all that stand between these Duelists and the World Championship in Orlando. For these two competitors, an entire year of Dueling all comes down to a handful of moments this afternoon. Every move counts, and one mistake can mean the difference between going to Florida, and going home.

So let’s see what this Monster Mash Deck is all about!

Alvarez won the roll and chose to go second. Play went to Flores, who opened the Match with a Set card to his Spell and Trap Card Zone and the Normal Summon of Kozmo Soartroopers.

Alvarez had Fiendish Rhino Warrior; Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss; Blackwing – Steam The Cloak; Dark Armed Dragon; Alich, Malebranche of theBurning Abyss; Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Summoned Rhino, and Flores banished his Soartroopers to Special Summon Kozmoll Dark Lady. Alvarez tried to Special Summon Alich, and Flores paid 1000 Life Points to shut down the attempt, negating the Special Summon effect. Alvarez tried again, with Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss this time, and Flores let it through, but he banished Kozmoll Dark Lady to Special Summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer, blowing away the Farfa. Alvarez Special Summoned Scarm next, and overlaid it with Rhino to Xyz Summon Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss in Defense Position. He detached Rhino to send his second Scarm, Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, and then his third Scarm to his Graveyard. Alvarez used Fiendish Rhino Warrior’s effect to send Edge Imp Sabres from his Deck to his Graveyard, ending his turn.

Flores Normal Summoned Kozmoll Wickedwitch and activated Card of Demise! He Set another card to his backrow, then ran over Dante with Kozmo DarkDestroyer. When Dante went down Alvarez got his Scarm back, and Flores dropped his Kozmo Forerunner in his End Phase.

Alvarez returned a card to the top of his Deck to Special Summon Edge Imp Sabres, then Normal Summoned Blackwing – Steamthe Cloak. He overlaid the two for another Dante, then detached Steam the Cloak to send Barbar, Malebranche of theBurning Abyss, Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju, and Maxx “C” to his Graveyard. He banished three Malebranches for 900 damage with Barbar, and with his Graveyard culled to just three DARK monsters he Special Summoned Dark Armed Dragon!

Alvarez banished Farfa to target Flores’ Set Call of the Haunted; he flipped it to briefly Special Summon back Kozmo Forerunner, and when it was destroyed by Call he banished it to Special Summon Kozmo Landwalker, giving himself some protection against the Dragon. Alvarez banished Barbar next, destroying Flores’ Set Card of Demise – oof. Alvarez attacked Landwalker with Dante, sending Flores off to his Main Deck to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider, then attacked Kozmoll Wickedwitch for damage – Flores paid Life Points to ensure Wickedwitch would survive the attack. Alvarez pitched Scarm from his hand to upgrade Dante into Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, then searched his deck for Tour Guide from the Underworld in the End Phase as he finished out Scarm’s effect.

Flores drew for his turn and activated anotherCard of Demise! He drew three cards, then activated Kozmotown and retrieved Kozmoll Dark Lady from his removed zone. He Tributed away Kozmoll Wickedwitch to Tribute Summon Dark Lady, then activated Raigeki! Alvarez detached Dante from Beatrice, and Flores negated her effect with Kozmoll Dark Lady. Raigeki destroyed Dark ArmedDragon and Beatrice, and when Beatrice’s effect activated in the Graveyard Flores had Maxx “C” to capitalize. Flores got a draw while Alvarez took back Scarm with Dante’s effect, then Special Summoned Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss with Beatrice’s Graveyard trigger. Flores promptly ran it over with Kozmo DarkDestroyer, then pitched Kozmo Tincan for Card of Demise in his End Phase.

Alvarez drew Effect Veiler, holding Maxx “C”, Tour Guide from the Underworld, Scarm, and Farfa. He Special Summoned Farfa, then Scarm, and Flores let both go, not using Dark Lady’s effect. Alvarez overlaid for Dante, then detached Scarm to send Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, Speedroid Terrortop, and Fiendish Rhino Warrior to his Graveyard off the top of his Deck. Flores blew away Dante with Dark Lady, negating its ability, and Alvarez got back his Farfa with Dante’s effect.

He sent Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard with Rhino, revived Dante, and then Normal Summoned Tour Guide from theUnderworld to Special Summon Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Xyz Summoned Number 47: Nightmare Shark, detached Tour Guide, and made a direct attack for game!

Alan Garcia Alvarez takes a hard-fought win in the first Duel, now one win away from knocking off the three-time Champion and earning his seat in the Top 8! Could Flores battle back?

Flores decided that Alvarez would go first, and Alvarez opened with Twin Twisters; Blackwing –Steam the Cloak; Fiendish Rhino Warrior; and two copies of Farfa, Malebrancheof the Burning Abyss. He Normal Summoned Rhino, Special Summoned Farfa, overlaid them for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, and detached Rhino Warrior to send Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju, Gadarla, the Mystery DustKaiju, and another Farfa to his Graveyard with Dante.

That triggered Rhino’s effect, sending Scarm, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the yard as well. Alvarez turfed his last Farfa from his hand to upgrade Dante into Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, Set his Twin Twisters, and searched his Deck for TourGuide from the Underworld with Scarm’s effect.

Flores activated Kozmotown, shuffled away Kozmo Farmgirl to draw, and Special Summoned Kozmo Tincan with Emergency Teleport. He banished Tincan to Special Summon Kozmoll Dark Lady, then activated Kozmotown to get Tincan back. Alvarez Normal Summoned it, Set three cards to his backrow, and moved to his End Phase to use Tincan’s ability. Alvarez stopped him, detaching Dante from Beatrice in the Main Phase to send Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the Graveyard and negate Tincan’s effect. He targeted his Farfa with Dante’s recursive ability, targeted Tincan with Alich, and Flores countered the Alich with Kozmoll Dark Lady. Alvarez Chained Twin Twisters to the Dark Lady’s effect, discarding Steam the Cloak. The Chain resolved: Chaos Trap Hole and SolemnWarning were destroyed by Twin Twisters; Dark Lady negated the Alich; and Alvarez got back his Farfa with Dante. Flores got Kozmo Forerunner with Tincan in the End Phase.

Alvarez drew Scarm and detached Farfa from Beatrice in Standby to send Interrupted Kaiju Slumber from his Deck to his Graveyard. He targeted Kozmoll Dark Lady with Farfa’s effect, and Flores negated it by dropping himself to 5500 Life Points. Alvarez pressed on, Normal Summoning Tour Guide to Special Summon Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss from his Deck. He overlaid for Dante, Travelerof the Burning Abyss, detached Cir, and sent Cyber Dragon Core, TwinTwisters, and another Cir to his Graveyard with Dante. He Cir’d the other Dante back to the field, pitched Scarm from hand to use the newest Dante with no Materials for a Beatrice, and attacked over Kozmoll Dark Lady.

The attack went through! Dark Lady was destroyed. Alvarez sent a Beatrice after Kozmo Tincan, but Flores banished it to Special Summon Kozmo Forerunner. He now controlled Kozmotown, Forerunner, and a single backrow card. Alvarez rammed Beatrice into Forerunner, replaying his previous attack, and used her Graveyard effect to Special Summon Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss. He moved to Main Phase 2 and Tributed Dante to revive Steam the Cloak with its ability, returning Alich to his hand with Dante.

Flores drew Kozmoll Wickedwitch and shuffled it away with Kozmotown. He drew, examined his options, took a look through both Graveyards, and Normal Summoned Kozmo Soartroopers. Alvarez pitched Farfa for Pilgrim’s effect, drawing Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice and banishing Soartroopers temporarily. Flores attacked Pilgrim with Forerunner, destroyed both monsters, and banished Forerunner to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider. He used it to destroy his own Kozmotown, searched another, and rammed Sliprider into Beatrice. He banished it from his Graveyard to Special Summon Kozmo Strawman and Alvarez used Beatrice to send Alich to the Graveyard and negate Strawman’s effect. Time was called and Alvarez got his Cir back. Flores retrieved his Sliprider with Kozmotown, and returned his Soartroopers to play, now free of Farfa.

Turn 1 in time. Alvarez drew Effect Veiler, then Summoned Tri-Eyed Dice and overlaid it with Steam the Cloak for another Dante. He detached Tri-Eyed Dice to send Fiendish Rhino Warrior, Cyber DragonCore, and Speedroid Terrortop to his Graveyard, then used Rhino to send Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to the yard. Alvarez was in a hurry to banish Interrupted Kaiju Slumber, and in doing so he forgot to take advantage of all of his effects and lost his chance to banish cards for Barbar.

He banished the Slumber to search Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, attacked Soartroopers with Beatrice, and Flores banished Soartroopers to Special Summon Kozmo Sliprider. The Sliprider destroyed his Kozmotown, getting him another from his Deck. Alvarez replayed the attack, attacking Strawman with Beatrice, and Dante attacked over Sliprider. Flores Special Summoned Tincan by banishing Sliprider, and Alvarez Tributed it for Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju.

Turn 2 in time. Flores blasted the field with Raigeki, destroying Dante and Beatrice. He played Maxx “C”, and Alvarez got back his Farfa with Dante, then Special Summoned Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss with Beatrice’s effect. Flores activated Kozmotown, got back Soartroopers, and when he Summoned it and activated its effect Alvarez negated the ability with Effect Veiler. Flores activated Card ofDemise, didn’t see any help, and conceded the Match!